For the record, San Diego's @cbs8 was the only CBS affiliate in a major market to preempt the NCAA Tournament today.
— John Ourand (@Ourand_SBJ) March 23, 2013
Yes, this happened as San Diegans woke up and were hoping to watch some basketball and breakfast on CBS affiliate KFMB. Instead of the NCAA Tournament and Michigan vs. VCU from Auburn Hills, MI, viewers were treated to the cartoon, Liberty's Kids for an hour before joining the game in progress. Apparently there was no warning or correction to TV programming guides that had listed the game starting on time in the San Diego market.
As expected, people anticipating to see the NCAA Tournament reacted angrily. The station's official Twitter account said nothing about the preemption while viewers were left holding the bag.
As Ourand stated in a later tweet, if CBS knows about a preemption ahead of time, it will make arrangements for an alternate station to pick up the feed. However, in this case, CBS apparently had no prior knowledge of KFMB's plans to show a cartoon for an hour.
Normally, a preemption would occur if there's breaking news or a prior commitment to other programming, but outright joining a basketball game halfway into the game to run a cartoon is practically unheard of. We'll see if there are repercussions for KFMB down the line.
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About Ken Fang
Ken has been covering the sports media in earnest at his own site, Fang's Bites since May 2007 and at Awful Announcing since March 2013.
He provides a unique perspective having been an award-winning radio news reporter in Providence and having worked in local television.
Fang celebrates the four Boston Red Sox World Championships in the 21st Century, but continues to be a long-suffering Cleveland Browns fan.